adwords scam??

I just turned off my adwords for the season, as in the last 2 months I have paid $500 per month. My average website visits for the last 2 months and more have been 80+ per week and I have been getting maybe 1 call per week.

87% of my visits are 2 seconds or less, and up until a week ago I was geared towards construction in ad-words with no maintenance campaign. and I can't help but wonder if Google pays people to click ads, as I cant see someone looking for paver patios or retaining walls and in <2 seconds saying "oops, not this site".

Its funny you mention this, I also wondering the same thing, I was getting lots of click but no calls or emails, I have always used adwords but set a budget per month or week or whatever. You can see the clicks per day and if you get no calls or emails then you know it was useless, however many people browse on the internet with no intention of buying or hiring anything or anybody. I wonder what others will say on this matter, very interesting, glad you mentioned it.

87% of my visits are 2 seconds or less, and up until a week ago I was geared towards construction in ad-words with no maintenance campaign. and I can't help but wonder if Google pays people to click ads, as I cant see someone looking for paver patios or retaining walls and in <2 seconds saying "oops, not this site".

Click to expand...

- Google engaging in click-fraud is, in no way, a tactic that would be in their best interest, but it does happen via other avenues (competitors, for example). Where do you see these clicks coming from? Are they in your city/region? If Google hasn't proactively let you know there's an issue, and your own research leads you to conclude there is, you can have them open a case to look in to it.

- Where are you sending your Adwords-generated traffic? Your standard construction page, which is named new-pavers.html, or is there an optimized landing page I don't see? What was the copy you used for you ad? Is it re: paver construction, or the broader "landscape construction"?

I have additional feedback, but it could be a lot of words for naught, depending on what your Adwords copy says and where you send the traffic.

I think it is my home page that is the landing. Where would i confirm this?

Click to expand...

This would be the page your Adwords ad's link sends the person who clicked on it.

There's going to be a bit of the "cold serving of reality" spooned out here, but I mean no offense and it will ultimately save you $500/month.

- If you don't know where you're sending people who click on your ad, you shouldn't be spending any money on a campaign, let alone that figure.

- If you're sending an Adwords click to anything other than an optimized page, you shouldn't be spending money on the campaign. People clicking on your ad want to end up where they think they're clicking. If they click your landscape construction ad and get whisked off to your home page, being expected to learn and understand what you do, clicking on the relevant page, and then finding your phone number or an email form, you're simply not going to convert.

The Landing Site:

- If you're selling landscape design/build services, your site should reflect the quality of your product. You're attempting to put a $3,000(?) Adwords budget on top of a $7/month DIY site and, essentially, hoping that it converts. I don't say this to sound like a dick, but this is akin to someone planting $100 worth of Petunias and then they turn around and spend $3,000 for another guy to come fertilize them. You can only do so much with Petunias.

As it is, your site has an "aged" look to it. 740 pixels wide was quite a few years ago. The very first testimonial, dated in 2007, while indicative of you being around for long enough to be trustworthy, also gives the vibe that the site may not have been touched since then.

The content (white on brown, for one) is just not engaging "looking". It simply looks crowded and is not an easy read. The homepage images, where you are likely sending your ad clickers, crowd the text, so that they are supposed to read a narrow column of text. The main navigation wraps to a second line to allow for the Contact Us page.

I just jumped back to the first time I reviewed the site and I see that you still have some of the same, uncorrected issues. On 3 different pages, you have 3 different fonts.
Home Page Content: 18px Times New Roman
Construction Page: 16px Times New Roman
Testimonials Page: 13px Arial

All in all, I would probably recommend that you study up on Adwords campaigns, value propositions or solid selling messages, landing page conversion, put some more work in to your site, and then try again. If design isn't your thing, find a great template or use some of your ad spend to hire it out. If you don't, I don't think you're going to ever convert those clicks, or get out of that 1 or 2 second bounce. In this day and age, people make very quick decisions.

This would be the page your Adwords ad's link sends the person who clicked on it.

There's going to be a bit of the "cold serving of reality" spooned out here, but I mean no offense and it will ultimately save you $500/month.

- If you don't know where you're sending people who click on your ad, you shouldn't be spending any money on a campaign, let alone that figure.

- If you're sending an Adwords click to anything other than an optimized page, you shouldn't be spending money on the campaign. People clicking on your ad want to end up where they think they're clicking. If they click your landscape construction ad and get whisked off to your home page, being expected to learn and understand what you do, clicking on the relevant page, and then finding your phone number or an email form, you're simply not going to convert.

The Landing Site:

- If you're selling landscape design/build services, your site should reflect the quality of your product. You're attempting to put a $3,000(?) Adwords budget on top of a $7/month DIY site and, essentially, hoping that it converts. I don't say this to sound like a dick, but this is akin to someone planting $100 worth of Petunias and then they turn around and spend $3,000 for another guy to come fertilize them. You can only do so much with Petunias.

As it is, your site has an "aged" look to it. 740 pixels wide was quite a few years ago. The very first testimonial, dated in 2007, while indicative of you being around for long enough to be trustworthy, also gives the vibe that the site may not have been touched since then.

The content (white on brown, for one) is just not engaging "looking". It simply looks crowded and is not an easy read. The homepage images, where you are likely sending your ad clickers, crowd the text, so that they are supposed to read a narrow column of text. The main navigation wraps to a second line to allow for the Contact Us page.

I just jumped back to the first time I reviewed the site and I see that you still have some of the same, uncorrected issues. On 3 different pages, you have 3 different fonts.
Home Page Content: 18px Times New Roman
Construction Page: 16px Times New Roman
Testimonials Page: 13px Arial

All in all, I would probably recommend that you study up on Adwords campaigns, value propositions or solid selling messages, landing page conversion, put some more work in to your site, and then try again. If design isn't your thing, find a great template or use some of your ad spend to hire it out. If you don't, I don't think you're going to ever convert those clicks, or get out of that 1 or 2 second bounce. In this day and age, people make very quick decisions.

Click to expand...

I see what you mean, i think i put in my home page for my maint. Campaign not knowing any difference- and when i started my construction campaign i left it there, again not knowing any difference. In the next 3-6 months i will probably (depending on funds) have my site redone by a pro. For now i'll keep my campaigns paused and lick my wounds.
That being said, it still doesn't account for 87% of clicks being <2 seconds, your eyes can't even focus on the page in that time.
What price range should i expect to be in for a professional built site (i know that depends on features,# of pages etc...) just need to brace myself.

That being said, it still doesn't account for 87% of clicks being <2 seconds, your eyes can't even focus on the page in that time.

Click to expand...

I think you might be surprised how quickly people can make a decision, especially if they end up some place other than where they think they should, or would, want to be. It took me no more than a second to realize why you weren't converting.

If you're still concerned about validity of the clicks, are you sure your ads were targeting only your local service area and used exact match keywords?

What price range should i expect to be in for a professional built site (i know that depends on features,# of pages etc...) just need to brace myself.

Click to expand...

You can reasonably expect to pay $750 to $?,???, depending on needs/customization/included services.

Pricing is really no different than lawn mowing, or any other service. You can always find someone who will gladly take your $20 to mow your half acre.